Open letter to ordinary Nigerians

SIR: Several letters have already been written and addressed to those at the corridors of power, their cronies and establishments. I have lost count of the number of well-written, thought-provoking and soul-piercing articles I personally authored and addressed to those in power; high-profile personalities and government establishments. As usual, such articles were basically targeted at ensuring that our leaders don’t veer off the lane of commonsense, resist the temptation to promote personal interests and constantly remind them of the sacredness of the tasks in their hands.

Whether such letters have produced desired outcomes is a different thing altogether.

Fellow countrymen and women, I’m very sad and worried. I’m alarmed by the way we allow our appointed or elected representatives to choke us with practices considered very harmful and detrimental to our lives and that of our dear nation. No nation grows in an environment where laws are breached with impunity. No nation attains greatness in an environment where a negligible percentage of its population bury themselves in affluence, while a large chunk of its population still live from hand to mouth. This is a country where social and economic rights of its citizens are serially abused by those in authority.

We, the citizenry allow so many ills to go unchecked. Through our unified silence, we have indirectly endorsed some ill practices. In extreme cases, we even offer support to these leaders to further impoverish, insult and shortchange us with impunity. Like sheep without shepherds, our leaders have led us astray into dangerous lands. We have groped in the dark for too long. Our leaders have since realized that we are too fearful, too naïve and not daring enough to question their profligate disposition, ostentatious lifestyles, greed, avarice and primitive accumulation of our commonwealth.

We have become so used to the mess that our country has become. Nothing seems to bother us anymore. Many have lost interest in the project called Nigeria. This is very sad. Ideally, as citizens, we should all be benefiting from the nation’s wealth. As citizens, irrespective of tribe, creed and political persuasion, we have equal stake in the sharing and allocation of Nigeria’s vast resources. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that our leaders have cornered the resources to serve their interests and those of their cronies. This gross injustice is so obvious to be left unchallenged.

Challenging them doesn’t imply taking up arms or inciting others to attack our leaders. It’s about reminding them of the need to redistribute the resources among Nigerians. It is about telling them of the consequences of their actions.

Strangely, we, those often called ordinary Nigerians tend to defend and hold brief for leaders accused of graft. Instead of naming and shaming those cornering our collective patrimony through contract splitting, kickbacks, contract inflation, misappropriation, we often rise to defend their action for very stupid reasons. It is sickening to see ordinary Nigerians rise in defence of leaders found to have abused public office simply because such a leader shares blood or certain affinities with them. I recall with pain how some young men in Imo State took to the street to defend Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah who was alleged to have directed heads of parastatals under her supervision to get her two bullet-proof cars with funds not captured in the budget.

This is not how to build a country. We have stayed too long on the wrong path. No matter how far we have gone on the wrong lane, we can still retrace our steps back to the drawing board to start again. Let us begin the year 2014 on a promising note. Fellow ordinary Nigerians, I wish that we could all take our pride of place in how this nation is governed. We were once blind, but we can now see. Do have a hitch-free festive season and a prosperous new year in advance.